


Coda to Planet of the Spiders

by MediocreCoelacanth



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:47:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28887069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MediocreCoelacanth/pseuds/MediocreCoelacanth
Summary: Jo Grant has a chance meeting with the Doctor post-Planet of the Spiders and they have an opportunity to talk.
Relationships: The Doctor & Jo Grant
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7





	Coda to Planet of the Spiders

**Author's Note:**

> Look, _I_ know that what happened in Planet of the Spiders with the crystal isn't Jo's fault and _you_ know that isn't Jo's fault and _the Doctor_ knows... but... does Jo know? Written after a recent viewing of Planet of the Spiders because I just really wanted the Doctor and Jo to have a chance to talk again.

Jo wasn't even sure if the package would have arrived yet when she made the call. It was just that she had had unexpected access to working telephone and thought that it might be nice to ring over and check in with the old team back at UNIT. Let everyone know to keep an eye out for the package she had sent and that, yes, she'd like her wedding gift back eventually, thank you. That was when she heard the news about the Doctor.  
  
"Sorry- the Doctor's still unconscious at the moment. Honestly, from what I've heard, he's been pretty touch and go since he turned up a couple days back but," the tinny voice coming through the receiver forcefully brightened as if the speaker, too, had realized the weight of the news they had just delivered, "the Brigadier seems confident that he'll pull through alright. We can pass a message along to the Doctor once he's up again. Is there a number we can tell him to reach you at?"  
  
For one startled moment, the words knocked Jo's breath away.  
Jo could imagine the staff member back at UNIT fishing around the reception desk for a pencil. She had done it enough times herself- no matter how many times they were replaced, someone always seemed to have walked off with the last pencil right when you needed to make a note of something important. Not that it really mattered in this case. "Unconscious?" she asked, scrambling to collect her thoughts. "I'm afraid that I'll need you to go back a bit for me... What happened to the Doctor? Why is he unconscious?"  
  
"Well, that package you sent- with the weird space crystal- arrived a couple weeks ago, right? The Doctor was pleased to hear from you, by the way. So it turns out that-"  
  
So it turned out that Jo's local guides had been right about the crystal. Whether it had been the same "evil power" they had been warning her about or not, the sapphire had been attracting danger and by passing it off to the Doctor to look after, Jo had just directed that danger straight at him. The very same properties that had made the crystal so beneficial during their run-in with Global Chemicals (that had helped save Cliff, even) also made it valuable to a race of telepathic alien spiders. Except they weren't actually alien spiders, they were apparently descendants of Earth spiders that had accidentally been transported by human colonists to Metebellius III in the future and had gained telepathic abilities (as well as sapience) as the result of, oh, something or other to do with the planet's unique geology. Jo suspected that she wouldn't have understood it if the Doctor had been the one explaining and the fact that she was hearing about this third or fourth hand from someone else who also didn't really seem to understand it wasn't clearing anything up, to be sure, but the gist was that because the spiders wanted the crystal, several people had been killed either by the spiders or by humans working with the spiders and this had all culminated in the Doctor personally leaving to give the crystal to the spiders' leader and somehow getting himself killed in the process. "But I thought you said he was only unconscious?" The question came out loud enough to cause every person in the station where Jo was phoning from to turn and stare at her. "What do you _mean_ the Doctor was killed by- by-"  
  
"Advanced cellular degeneration," the voice from the other end of the line supplied with the cadence of someone carefully repeating a phrase they had been told but did not fully understand, per se. As if the specific terminology was the point of confusion. "But the Doctor isn't human, remember- he's a timelord- so instead of staying dead, he just kind of ... changed appearance. Regenerated was the term. Look, Brigadier said that he's seen the Doctor do this before and there's nothing to worry about. Give him enough time and the Doctor will be right as rain again. Like I said, if you leave a number with me, I can have the Doctor call you back once he's up again. It's no trouble."  
  
"I'm just stopping through here, I'm afraid," Jo sighed. "We're still traveling at the moment so I don't have a number where he can reach me at. Besides, we aren't exactly in a region that has a lot of phones, anyhow. Just tell the Doctor- when the Doctor wakes up, just tell him..." How many times could you mess things up and still get forgiven for it afterwards? "Oh, I don't know. Don't tell him anything, I guess. Look, sorry, I have to go. I promised not to let my call go on too long- International rates and all that. Take care." The knowledge of the crystal's fate, of what had transpired because of its return to England, settled like a little lead weight in the bottom of Jo's stomach. She felt ill with worry for the Doctor, with guilt, with general misery and homesickness but then, well- then life went on and Jo had to focus on other things (like not falling down cliff faces or getting attacked by local fauna or becoming lost in a torrential rain storm) so she buried that feeling away where it sat, ignored and almost forgotten all the way through her exploration of the Amazon, a "small" side trip down to the Falkland Islands, and back again to England... England. Ultimately, it wouldn't be another year or more before Jo was back there again.  
  
  
..........  
  
  
The first thing Jo did when she _did_ return to England was stop by UNIT headquarters to say 'hello' to everyone. Technically speaking, Jo was returning to Wales and being in England was a stopover visit but that didn't make it feel any less like coming home. It was only natural, in the circumstances, to want to see old friends again.  
Jo was standing at the entrance gate, waiting for the Brigadier to come out and vouch for her officially in the absence of the old security pass she had given up when resigning from UNIT employ, when she spotted him; a tall man with curly brown hair and the most ridiculous, oversized scarf Jo had ever laid eyes on. Jo expected he must be some visiting expert or other because she certainly didn't recognize him from her own UNIT days. Of course, whoever this was, he could always have joined on after Jo had left but there was just something about the was his jacket and trousers and noisy vest and tie all kind of combined together into a charity store hodgepodge that made that feel difficult to believe. Unless Lethbridge-Stewart had become significantly more lenient about dress-code recently. (Doubtful.) Yet here the man was, strolling casually up to the gate with a security badge already in hand and the guard was turning to greet him- "Hello, Doctor"- and it all clicked into place.  
"No." Jo even startled herself with the vehemence of the unexpected protestation. "Doctor?" She wanted to kick herself for saying anything at all. That little weight of misery and guilt in her stomach suddenly lurched, weighing her down again after she had done such a grand old job of ignoring it. (Mostly.) If this wasn't the Doctor, she'd look daft and if it was...  
  
The man turned to look at Jo, curly hair bouncing and eyes widening dramatically. Instantly, a toothy grin split his face. "Jo Grant." He made her name sound as if it was the world's greatest reward. "Jo Grant," he repeated, full of wonder. "It _is_ you! How lovely to see you again."  
  
"So it was true." Jo hated crying in public, it made her feel even clumsier and immature than she normally did. Vaguely, she was aware of an expression of absolute shock and horror dawning on the Doctor's face. "You died and it's all because I sent that crystal back to you. If we had kept it then it wouldn't have been in England for those cult people to find or for giant telepathic spiders to kill you over or whatever other awful things happened."  
  
"No," the Doctor admonished his friend softly. He had been tall before and was even more so now; the distance between them vanished in only a couple long strides. "No. No. No." Each repetition was more forceful than the last. Strong arms folded Jo, still blubbing miserably, into a snug embrace. She was absolutely getting tears and snot all over his absurd scarf but worrying about that was the farthest thing from Jo's mind at the moment and the Doctor didn't seem at all concerned about it, in any case. "Jo, it isn't like that at all. Alright?"  
  
He smelled like wool yarn and the cheap, bulk-order laundry detergent UNIT always stocked. Jo couldn't help but notice that he wasn't wearing that cologne he had been so fond of- the one Jo had given him as a joke gift once upon a time. (Well, sort of as a joke. It had partly been sincere.) He was sweating slightly and given that it was the middle of summer that wasn't surprising (even if it was an English summer and nowhere near as broiling as the weather Jo had experienced in the Amazon). Overall, it was a surprisingly down-to-Earth smell for a person who was born millions of light-years away in another galaxy. It was also, probably, a silly thing to notice. "But-" Jo insisted miserably.  
  
"No," the Doctor countered with an obstinance that was absolutely familiar. "Listen to me, Jo. _Really listen to me_. It was _not your fault_. Understand? I took something that I never had any right to take in the first place. The spiders of Metebellius III would have located that crystal eventually whether it had been here in England or with you and Jones in the Amazon. If anything, I am profoundly grateful that you _did_ send it back. What would I have- what _could_ I have done if my carelessness and selfishness had brought you to harm?"  
  
It occurred to Jo that she wasn't the only person who was embarrassing themself by crying in public. Fumbling slightly, she searched her pockets for a tissue with which to dry her eyes. The Doctor released Jo and performed a similar search of his own pockets. Several odd bits of electrical wire, unidentifiable mechanical components, a ball of twine, and a paper bag of sweets later, the timelord still had not located a kerchief but they were both smiling again. "We both look ridiculous, you know," he confided in Jo and it was difficult not to laugh along when he did so she gave in and giggled, too. He had such a lovely laugh! "Let's compromise: if you can forgive me for giving you one of the _worst_ wedding gifts in recorded history then _I'll_ forgive you for thinking you had anything to apologize for in the first place. Say," he continued amicably as he looped an arm around Jo's shoulders and began steering her through the gate. Protestations from the security clerk about Standard Procedure and Proper Security Protocol fell on deaf ears as did threats of the Brigadier's ire. "Would you like to see the lab? I'm not around as often now, of course, but I've made some rather exciting changes to the place since you were here last."  
  
"By exciting changes do you mean the Brigadier shouted at you for them?" Jo teased, already feeling immensely better. For the first time since she had heard about the Doctor's temporary brush with death, she felt genuinely, completely at ease. "Yes, I'd like that."  
  
The Doctor harumphed a bit over the lab remark but it was all good-natured. "Jelly baby?" he offered, grinning. "Are you still interested in researching mushrooms, by the way? Because I was only just thinking, well, obviously I will need to replace your wedding gift and there's this planet I visited once in what I believe humans call the Cartwheel Galaxy where the native inhabitants cultivate a type of mushroom that-"

**Author's Note:**

> A couple of the keys on my laptop are sticking so please ( _please_ ) let me know if I'm missing a letter somewhere. The 'a' key has been an especial nuisance. :P I am, of course, also open to other comments even if I don't necessarily expect them.


End file.
